General Rule

Third party access is not allowed as a general rule. Only account holders and nominees are allowed to access the contents of the safe deposit box.

However, we recognise that under special circumstances third party access may be required. This could be due to one of the following reasons:

Death

Incapacitation for any reason

Court Order

Granting access to third parties is considered on a case by case basis. Please contact our office and explain your circumstances. We will ask you to produce legal documentation to support your request and need for access. Without valid reasons and appropriate documentation to support your case we will be unable to grant you access.

Under all circumstances, we will seek legal guidance before we grant third party access.

Death of the account holder

You must immediately notify us about the death of an account holder.

Up to three people can be registered to access any safe deposit box. If an account holder has died then the other two registered persons on the account can still access the safe deposit box.

In case of the death of the account holder, where there is no other authorised person on the account, full access is only available once the estate has been granted probate. To grant any kind of access we will need to see relevant documentation. As individual circumstances may differ, each request will be reviewed on a case by case basis with any legal and administration costs borne by the customer’s estate.

The person seeking access must bring with them valid identification documents. These are:

Proof of Photo ID (one of the following)

Passport (Should be current and not expired)

Driving license (Full British)

Proof of address (one of the following of UK)

Council Tax Statement for the current year

Bank statement within the last three months

Current Utility Bill within the last three months

Driving License (Full British and if NOT shown as ID proof)

Once the estate has been granted probate, full and complete access is possible.

Access by the law enforcement authorities

We operate within the law of the United Kingdom and may be required by court order to allow the law enforcement authorities to access a safe deposit box without the consent of the account holder. We are required to comply with such enforcements.